Simple Guide to Helping Your Teen Set Realistic Goals for the New Year
The New Year is the perfect time to start fresh. If there’s any aspect of life that could be improved, setting some clear and realistic goals can help! Sometimes it’s hard for teens to set goals, especially realistic goals. Here’s how you can help:
Allow them to take It Slow
Work on one piece at a time. It’s important to take it slow and not take on too much at once. The main reason that some people fail when it comes to their New Year’s goals is because they fail to plan out a realistic path. Allow your teenager to work on the small, short-term pieces of the big goals. For example, if the goal is to be a professional athlete in the future, then a small goal could be reading about it, watching the sport on tv, or interviewing professional athletes. If your teen has a goal of acing a test at school, a small goal would be studying a few notes each night, not all at once.
Follow Through with a Plan
It’s easy to say: “I want to be the team captain” or “I want to learn a musical instrument.” Keep in mind that big goals like these will take some time and effort. Remind your teen that some goals are hard to start because they may feel unmotivated or tired. Musical instruments require time to master, and you may start with weeks of just learning notes before getting to any fun melodies. Help them stick to the plan!
Remind them that the beginning is tough. Encourage them to maintain enthusiasm to continue with their efforts. Remember that most people give up, but your teen is not most people, are they?
They are different because, unlike most people, they have you to help them to create a clear and realistic plan to take them right to success. If they want to be team captain define how they are going to do that. Will they start an exercise routine? Are they going to share their goal with the coach? Are they going to begin attending tutoring and study hall?
Goals won’t be achieved quickly. It takes steadiness to reach success. This is a difficult concept for our current “microwave generation” to grasp so us adults have to constantly remind and encourage them to keep going. Let them know if they don’t meet the short-term goals, they can revise the plan and kick up the pace, or just continue on the path because they’ll reach the goal eventually.
Realistic Goals
Your teen has to stay realistic when it comes to New Year’s goals. The holidays are a joyful time, and oftentimes we feel motivated to achieve something big. Know that your teen can achieve big things, but there are also only 24 hours in a day and many of those hours are spent in a classroom doing specific course work.
Have your teen avoid making goals that would take more than a year to complete. If they want to make a long-term goal, they must break it up into parts and give themselves a realistic plan for 2024.
Visualize the Outcome
It will help your teen to visualize themselves reaching their end goal. Visualizing it makes it feel real and motivates them to continue to work hard to make it happen. It’s surprising how quickly Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers can learn to visualize with a little guidance from a parent, coach, teacher, or YouTube video. Writing the vision down helps too (cork boards, white boards, chalk boards, sticky notes, vinyl stickers on their bathroom mirrors, laptop stickers, etc.)
The Right Attitude
If you and your teen have the right attitude, they can go far. It’s true that all you need to do is believe in yourself. An optimistic attitude is critical to success. Think about how you felt when you first set your New Year’s goal. Chances are that you had an excellent attitude, so try to maintain that mindset throughout your teen’s journey to success with their goals. Here’s a few words to say or text your teen:
- I believe in you
- How can I help?
- You are very good at that
- You can reach your dreams
- You’ve got this!
- I see you
Once your teen has determined a realistic goal and divided it up into short, achievable tasks, they are bound for success as long as they take action to complete each step and have you there to cheer them on. Go ahead and make New Year’s resolutions together, knowing that this upcoming year is going to be the most successful yet!
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By TMoM Team Member Britney Dent
